Animal Collective with Grouper at the Wiltern, 5/29/09

Grouper

Her discomfort was

A visible testament

To venue weirdness

Animal Collective

Metal devil horns

And headbanging to rockers

Like "Leaf House", "My Girls". 

?!!!?????!!!!

Animal Collective at the Troubadour, 2/27/09

Crowd full of lucky

Happy hoppers fed the vibes

Off of which they thrived. 

This is one of those shows where I am forced to break from my regimented 5/7/5 format to expound upon its greatness. That is, not the format, but the show. I am hard pressed to remember a more genuinely happy crowd of people at the Troubadour, a venue immortalized in my heart as a joyful place regularly. The band was evidently very excited to make the show happen, and because the place was packed to the gills, no one really had much room for motion. During "My Girls", everyone chanted along, hopping and swaying in unison, a collective being of appreciation. The band rattled the walls of the little club until a little past midnight, but we all could have probably run marathons around Los Angeles as we dispersed onto Santa Monica Boulevard. Animal Collective sounded phenomenal, and I could probably delve into the subtleties of the performance on "paper" elsewhere, but I believe that when I reflect back on this evening, it will be my fellow Los Angelinos that I remember, my fellow lucky bastard ticketholders, and the kindness that was evinced as a consequence of said luck. 

The Pitchfork Music Festival (Saturday) at Union Park in Chicago, 7/19/08

Titus Andronicus

Rambunctious Persians
Remarkably melodic
In the warm downpour

Jay Reatard

Ted Nugent-tastic
With the hair and the gut and
Utter gnarliness

Caribou

Never would I have
Predicted such jam band force
Unleashed by duel kits

Fleet Foxes

Their bashful nod to
Pitchfork's power endeared them
To all in ear-shot

Dizzee Rascal

Granted, I may have
Snoozed through his set, I heard him
Demand his name lots.

!!!

Holy daisy dukes!
Shameless flaunting backed by beats
To weaken morals

The Hold Steady

Commiserating
In the major key with the
Broke-down in us all.

Jarvis Cocker

I was not pre-warned
Of the hips that would haunt my
Dreams for nights to come!

Animal Collective

Sanguine, raw, glowing
Emoting like a poker
Slicing through a cloud.